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POTTERS
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Ideas for a more earth-friendly studio
From the Oregon Potters’ Association (OPA) Newsletter, June-July 2010

SCRAP GLAZE, LESS GLAZE

WASTE DOWN THE DRAIN
Submitted by Laurie Childers, OPA member
At our Linn-Benton Community College

ceramics studio in Corvallis, WA, we have
about a dozen 35-gallon buckets of glazes,
and another half-dozen five-gallon buckets
of trial glazes or less-popular mixes. We are a
teaching facility so there is more "changing of
the mind” and mistakes that require the glaze
to be washed off than in a production studio.
Any studio has ladles, pitchers, brushes, and
sponges that get glaze on them. To keep
the washed glaze from going into the sewer
system/river, we got a 12-gallon bucket and
marked it "Scrap Glaze.” This is an old idea but
somehow we had not been doing it, probably
because before we had our new facility we
are so cramped for space. We filled it three-
quarters full with water and put a note on
the lid for people to rinse the glaze from their
tools into this bucket—with the exception of
Shino glazes. Shino glazes have ash (lye) in
them and will not mix with other glazes, but

they could have their own scrap glaze bucket.

It took about nine months for the first bucket
to collect enough material to test. We also used
the cleaned-up glaze material from the spray
booth. To our surprise and delight, without
any additions, the scrap glaze came out a soft
iron green when thick and a medium/dark
brown when thin. It breaks nicely and gives us
a good forest green color we've been wanting.
A student named it Loden (a la Land's End
Catalogue) and it became very popular. More
people became aware of the scrap bucket and
now use it every time. The second iteration
of scrap glaze collected in less time and came
out very similar. We are doing a bit to help the
rivers and we also get a free glaze for minimal
effort.

MIXING GLAZES WITHOUT

MAKING TOXIC WASTE

Submitted by Janet Buskirk, OPA member

A very simple technique I use to keep waste
to a minimum when I mix glazes is this: I do
not add all of the water to the glaze while I
am initially mixing it. Then, J clean all of my
glaze-mixing tools (whisk, screen, scoops, etc)
with a small amount of water and add that

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water to the glaze. Everything ends up clean,
and no glaze materials go down the drain.

MIRROR BLACK GLAZE: This is a
beautiful glaze that I make from my scrap
glaze bucket. I use cone 10 glazes, but this
or something similar might work at other
temperatures. My typical scrap glaze, before
adding colorants, is a translucent brown or
dark green.

1 liquid quart of scrap glaze

20 g cobalt carbonate

6g chrome ox

20g red iron ox

MATTE BLUE GLAZE: This is a dark,
stony matte. I make it from a combination of
my scrap glaze, Waxy Matte glaze, and cobalt
carbonate. I fire it to cone 10,

First, mix Waxy Matte (cone 10):

Custer Feldspar 41

Silica 20

Dolomite 7

Gerstley Borate* 12

EPK 5

Tale 15

Add: Cobalt carbonate 1

* T use Laguna Borate instead of Gerstley
Borate

Mix the Waxy Matte with the appropriate
amount of water. Then, mix five parts of the
Waxy Matte with eight parts Scrap glaze. For
me, this makes a nice stony blue. You may
need to add a bit more cobalt or adjust the

ratio of Waxy Matte to scrap glaze.

For more information on the Oregon Potters
Association, see: www.oregonpotters.org

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Opening Reception
Thursday, September 9
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Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - September 2010

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